Beautiful Nightmare
by Young Justice Freakshow
Summary: The gang finds out that Johnny's being used by the socs. Johnny has been broken down piece by piece, and Ponyboy just wants him to know what it feels like to be loved. JohnnyxPonyboy
1. Chapter 1

"Soda!" Steve yelled angerly as Sodapop chucked the baseball at him, clocking him in the head. I laughed as Steve huffed and picked the baseball up from the ground. We weren't playing baseball, we just got bored and started chucking it at each other down at the lot.

"Yer too slow, Steve." Soda laughed, about thirty feet away from Steve. He dodged nothing when Steve pretended to throw the ball at him, while the ball never left his hand.

Two-bit laughed when Soda glared at Steve slightly. "Throw the damn ball, Steve." He called.

"You can call each other later." Dally said, flicking his cigarette. He stood rather boredly about fifteen feet away from Soda and Steve.

"Oooh." I laughed as Soda and Steve got uncomfortable and before a could wrap my finger around it, the baseball was flying at me. I grabbed it right before it hit me. If I hadn't caught that, I'd have one heck of a shiner to show to Darry.

"Good catch, Pony..."

I turned around and grinned at Johnny, who was sitting down a couple meters behind me. He gave a weak grin back. He'd spent the night at our place last night. He had a scuffle with his dad last night, and had the bruises to show for it.

I turned around and quickly flung the ball at Soda, like a pitcher at a baseball game would.

Soda still caught it easily. "Gettin' fancy on us, Pony?"

"Nah." I said, stretching my arms a little. The hem of my shirt rose up a little, showing off a little of my skin underneath.

A few more minutes went by, just me, Dally, Two-bit, Steve and Sodapop tossing the ball around with Johnny watching the game from behind me. Darry was working; building some chicken coop for some people outside of town.

"FUCK!"

Oh that is not what we want to hear.

Johnny yelped when Dally cursed. Soda had just decked Dally with the ball. I laughed as Dally sauntered to Soda and tackled him to the ground. We all laughed as they rolled on top of each other, each one trying to get a good swat at the other.

I turned around to make sure Johnny wasn't hyperventilating or nothing. "Are you okay?" I laughed.

"Yeah..." Johnny said, rubbing the side of his face tiredly. "I thought the socs were here or somethin..." he said quietly and stood up.

"Come on, ya sissys." Two-bit laughed as he and Steve pulled Soda and Dally apart.

I started walking toward them and Johnny followed behind me.

They were laughing now and Soda and Dally were insulting each other.

"Alright girls, calm down." Two-bit said with a crooked a grin on his face.

I smiled when I heard Johnny giggle under his breath. He hardly ever laughed, and I could even see Two-bit give himself ten points for making Johnny laugh.

"Whatever man!" Soda said, laughing as he locked his arm around Dally's neck.

I sighed and turned around, facing Johnny. "Wanna weed?" I asked him as I reached for the cigarettes in my back pocket.

"Yeah." Johnny said, stepping closer to me.

I gave him a cigarette and put one in between my lips. I lit a match and handed it to Johnny after I lit my own cigarette.

"Thanks..."

"Oooh!" Two-bit started pointing at Soda. "Soda's got a hicky!"

"Busy night last night?" Steve asked.

"Shut up..." Soda mumbled and pulled his shirt up higher over his chest. I laughed when I saw the red blush on his face.

"Hey, greasers."

"Oh what the hell." Steve said under his breath when some socs came up to them.

I heard Johnny whimper and I stood in front of him, and Soda pushed both of us behind him.

"Yer on greaser territory." Dally said. "Ya better leave."

"Why would we do that?" One of them asked. There was about five of them, all muscular and wearing Madras. "We came to see you guys."

"Mainly that little brown brat." Another said, sneering at Johnny.

Johnny gasped. I grabbed his wrist and pulled him closer to me. I wasn't going to let them hurt him again, and neither would the guys.

"I don't think so, soc." Dally said, his voice a low growl.

"P-Pony..." Johnny said timidly and scooted closer to me. I could feel his shaking chest against my back.

"Oh, let me guess." One of socs said. "We have to get through you guys?" He laughed.

I considered taking Johnny and running back to my house, but we lived too close and the socs couldn't find out where we lived. We'd just have to fight this out. I dropped my cigarette onto the ground on got ready to fight.

"I'm-I'm sorry..." Johnny said and I could hear his voice trembling.

"Ssh." I said. "Its not yer fault."

"We can handle em." Steve said, loud enough for the socs to hear.

"Fine." One of the socs smirked.

"Fair fight." Two-bit said and crossed his arms.

Dally looked at me and mouthed 'bucks'. He wanted me to take Johnny to Buck's. He understood why I couldn't take him to our house. I nodded as the boys and the socs took their weapons out of their pockets.

My grip on Johnny's wrist tightened as the boys and socs got ready to fight. As soon as they started, I took off towards Buck's, dragging Johnny behind me. I ran as fast as I could, even though my lungs burned. I hoped Johnny okay running like this, his dad had beaten him bad.

It didn't even take ten minutes for us to get there. We ran past all the people and through the doors up to Dally's room. Dally had been doing chores around the inn to keep his room there.

I let go of Johnny and closed the door. I leaned against the door, panting like a dog. I heard Johnny panting behind me and a small thump.

I turned around and saw that Johnny had collapsed to the ground. "Johnny..." I groaned and slid to the ground in front if him.

"Ponyboy, I'm so sorry..." Johnny said quietly. "They gonna get themselves hurt because of me..."

"Why did they want to hurt you?" I asked.

Johnny didn't say anything. "Because I'm a greaser..." he said quietly after a moment.

"We're all greasers," I said. "But why you?"

"'Cause...'cause..." Johnny stood up. "Why did we have to leave them?" He asked quietly.

"We needed to get you out of there." I said. "Why did they want to hurt you?"

"They wanted something..." Johnny said. "I didn't give it to them..."

"What did they want?" I asked again, I was getting impatient.

"N-Nothing..." Johnny said.

"Johnny." I said. "Tell me. Why did they want to hurt you?"

Johnny didn't say anything.

"Johnny!"

Johnny flinched and started crying.

"Crap..." I whispered and sat beside Johnny. "Sorry..." I said and hugged Johnny.

"Its okay..." Johnny said. I gasped quietly when he leaned against me. He was still shaking and panting, so I carefully lowered him down to my lap. The boys should hopefully be getting here soon. Rumbles typically don't last all that long.

I ran my fingers through Johnny's hair absent mindedly as I thought about what the socs could have wanted from Johnny.


	2. Chapter 2

The boys came to get me and Johnny after the fight. They were a little roughed up, but nothing they couldn't handle. Dally had left to go get Darry. I don't know why we needed Darry. The boys took care of themselves well enough without him. Two-bit and Steve walked Johnny to our house when they got to Bucks, but Soda kept me behind to talk.

"What's wrong?" I asked Soda. He had a few bruises and he looked worried about something.

"Did Johnny tell ya why the socs were after him?" He asked. His eyes were unusually serious.

"No." I said. "I tried to get him to tell me, but he got upset. Why?"

"When we were fighting the socs..." Soda started. "They were talkin' 'bout Johnnycake."

"So?" I asked as we started walking toward our house. "What'd they say?"

"Just..." Soda sighed. "A lot of nasty things about him. They were calling him names- bad names."

"Why would they talk about Johnny like that?" I asked. It didn't make sense. How could anyone have something bad to say about Johnny? "He never did nothin'."

"That's the thing, Pony." Soda said. "They was talkin' about things that Johnny did, but...Johnny would never do the things they were saying."

"Like what?" I asked and kicked a rock into the road.

"I-I can't repeat that stuff." Soda said. "Ask Dally."

I don't get it. What could Johnny have done that was so bad? He never broke the law, never got in trouble with the fuzz.

When we got to the house, I ran up the porch and into the house. Two-bit and Johnny were on the floor, watching Micky Mouse. Steve sat on the couch behind them, glaring at the TV. I sat beside Johnny on the old carpet and gave him a smile.

"Hi..." Johnny said quietly and grinned.

Soda sat next to Steve. We just sat for a few minutes. I could tell that Johnny was still feeling guilty about the fight.

About ten minutes later, Dally and Darry came through the door. Both looked thoroughly pissed off.

Everyone knew the fight happened because of Johnny, but nobody actually blamed him. We would all be more than happy to protect one of our own.

"Johnny." Darry said and walked over to us.

"Yeah...?" Johnny said quietly and looked up at Darry. Dally just stood by the door.

Johnny stood up and sat on the couch when Darry started talking.

Darry sighed. "We're used to socs after us." He started. "Nothin' not normal about that. But what I don't understand is why the socs were after you."

"I-I don't know..." Johnny said.

"Johnny, they were calling you a whore, you must know something about that!" Dally said.

I gasped quietly. Whore? Seriously?

Darry turned around and shushed him. "I'm talkin' to him." He turned around and looked at Johnny again. "What he said."

Johnny was looking down, avoiding eye contact with Darry. I felt like something was dropped in my stomach. The socs have been hurting Johnny. That was now obvious to everyone.

"...I di-didn't want to..." Johnny said with his voice trembling.

"What?" Darry kneeled in front of Johnny. "Johnny, what happened?"

"They..." Johnny started but stopped as tears started coming down his cheeks.

Darry put his face next to Johnny's so that Johnny could just whisper in his ear.

Johnny whispered something to Darry. After a moment, Darry had his arms around Johnny.

"Johnny," Darry said quietly. "Why didn't you tell us?"

"I didn't want to bother you..." Johnny said. He was crying.

"Johnny," Dally said. "Tell us what what happened." He said, referring to himself and everyone else.

"They were..." Johnny started when Darry pulled away from him. "I was scared...but they said they weren't going to beat me."

"Did they beat ye again?" I asked. I felt my blood get hot, I was ready to go beat some soc ass right this minute.

Johnny shook his head. "They raped me..." He said quietly.

"They what now?!" Soda said, half yelling. He was pissed.

"...ain't gonna say it again, Soda..." Johnny said, looking down at his lap. He was still crying, and I'll bet he'll cry some more, too.

All the boys were shocked. Two-bit looked like like he was about to cry, but I knew better. He wasn't gonna. He, like everyone else, was going to kick some soc ass.

I looked at Johnny. As much as I hated to say it, he did seem like the most rapable. Nah, not gonna say it. Vulnerable. That's more sensitive, I guess. He was the weakest of are group. He probably wouldn't say anything unless forced. He would be easy to manipulate.

"I gotta go home." Johnny said and stood up.

"I'll walk ya there." I said and stood up from the ground.

"Okay..." He mumbled.

"Johnny," Darry said. "Come back here tomorrow." He said.

Johnny looked at Darry and nodded.

I walked to the door and Johnny followed behind me. We said bye and left.

"How long has this been going on?" I asked Johnny as we walked down the road.

"A-A few weeks..." Johnny said.

"Is that all they did?" I asked.

"They'd make me do other things." Johnny said.

"Johnny..." I put my arm around his shoulders and pulled him close to me.

Johnny gasped quietly and timidly put his arm around my shoulders. "Can...can I ask you something?"

"Yeah, sure." I said.

"Its kind of a personal question..." he mumbled.

"What is it?" I asked. "Go 'head."

"W-Would you rather have really nice parents that were dead...or parents that were really mean but still alive?"

I could see what he was getting at. "I'd rather be in the situation I'm in now." I said.

Johnny nodded.

"Why?" I asked.

Johnny put his head on my shoulder. "Just wonderin'." He said.

His hair brushed against my cheek. Without thinking, I leaned into him. His hair was really soft. Whoa...where'd that come from? I felt my cheeks burn up and I was glad Johnny couldn't see me in the dark.

We were at his house now. Before he could pull away from me, I hugged him real tight. "We're always here for ya, Johnnycakes." I said into his neck. "Just don't keep secrets from us."

"Okay..." he said and wrapped his arms around my shoulders for a moment and then pulled away.

We both jumped when we heard yelling and crashing coming from inside Johnny's house.

"Why do you even come here?" I asked quietly with my arms still around Johnny.

"I got to." He said. "To make sure my moms okay."

I wanted to yell at him and tell him his mom didn't deserve his help, but I didn't. I let him slip away from my arms and walk up to the front door.

"Bye, Pony..." Johnny said as he opened the door and went inside.


End file.
